Final world archery Olympic qualifier: India’s hunt for Paris 2024 men’s team quota cut short by Mexico

The Indian men’s recurve archery team, comprising Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Pravin Jadhav, failed to obtain a Paris 2024 Olympics quota from the Final World Quota Tournament at Antalya, Turkiye on Saturday.

With quotas on offer to the top three teams in the men’s recurve team event at the final world Olympic archery qualifier in Turkiye, India’s quest ended after losing to Mexico’s Matias Grande, Carlos Rojas and Bruno Martinez Wing in the quarter-finals.

The Indian team was 4-0 up by the second set but Mexico came from behind to beat India 5-4 after a shootoff.

Earlier, India had topped the qualifying round with a score of 2018 to attain top seeding. Mexico had finished eighth in the qualification round with a score of 1974.

The Indian men’s team received a bye in the opening round before blanking the 17th-seeded Luxembourg team, comprising Pit Klein, Jeff Henckels and Jerome Ansel, 6-0 in the second round to make the quarters.

The Indian women’s team also failed to secure a Paris 2024 quota on Friday. Former world No. 1 Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat lost to Ukraine 5-3 in the round of 16.

So far, Dhiraj Bommadevara secured India’s only archery quota for the upcoming Summer Games through the Asian Continental Qualifier Tournament in Bangkok last year.

From Turkiye, nations can either win a team quota (three archers) or an individual quota (one archer) per gender for the Paris 2024 Summer Games.

India, currently second in the world men’s recurve team rankings, however, are well placed to obtain a team quota through world rankings.

The top two teams per gender in the world rankings as of June 24, who have not already obtained quotas, will secure quotas for the Paris 2024 Olympics.